It was former Tory leader and home secretary Michael Howard who memorably insisted that ‘prison works’ when he dismissed calls for softer, community-based sentences.

It does. But only when the punishment fits the crime, and law-breakers genuinely fear the consequences of being caught.

Clearly, even though current home secretary Teresa May has echoed Mr Howard’s no-nonsense views, this is not currently the case.

Take the hoodie thug who dragged a rider from his scooter and raided shops in one of the iconic images from this summer’s riots.

He was locked up for nearly six years yesterday, but smirked at the jury as he was sent down, saying: “I only have to do half – it’s a walk in the park.”

In Shropshire, a thief who raised a pensioner’s home in Market Drayton showed similar contempt for the legal system, yelling abuse at jurors after the verdict was announced – a move which went unpunished.

This is the sort of nonsense that David Cameron should be tackling as one of his number one priorities.

Unfortunately, in Ken Clarke he has one of the softest justice secretaries for generations, who appears hell-bent on finding ways of putting fewer criminals behind bars.

While sentences are viewed as comically lenient, the number of feral gangs showing utter contempt for the laws of our land will only grow.

The nation rejoiced this week as an internet video showed hero train passenger Alan Pollock throwing an alleged fare dodger off a train.

The authorities did not share the public’s enthusiasm, however, and charged him with assault. Surely they should be in the dock for a breach of common sense?

Greed stifling our society:

More than 200 British women have been told their breast implants may put them at a greater risk of cancer.

Depressingly, their first thoughts are not for their own health, but whether they can make some money by taking the manufacturers to court.

This is typical of the creeping Americanisation of our nation. We live in a society where nothing is ever our own fault, someone else is always to blame . . . and we want them to pay.

Even the lawyers representing these women who, it could be argued, were clearly more concerned with image than health in the first place, admit they “don’t know” if the cancer link is true. But they are backing the legal action anyway.

This damaging attitude explains why we are now choked by a raft of depressingly daft health and safety legislation, as councils and businesses desperately seek to protect themselves.

And we are all losers in the end. Just ask Shropshire families who are underwhelmed by the ultra-cautious, but reassuringly compliant Christmas light displays in many of our towns this year.